Kole tang

Care at a glance

Overview

The Kole tang is a hardy, hard-working grazer and one of the most useful cleanup fish in the hobby. Being smaller than most tangs, it suits reef systems that cannot house a full-sized Zebrasoma or hippo tang. It is best with a little experience.

Caring for the Kole tang

Give a Kole tang at least 79 gal (300 L), with plenty of mature live rock and open sand to browse. Leave it room to cruise the length of the tank.

Keep the water at 75 to 81°F (24 to 27°C) with a pH of 8.1 to 8.4. It grazes algae and detritus, but keep it well supplied with algae or nori as well.

The Kole tang is one of the safer tangs for a reef, since its comb teeth rasp film off surfaces rather than tearing at coral. If it is underfed, there is a minor risk it may pick at soft coral polyps.

It is peaceful toward unrelated fish but territorial toward other bristletooth tangs and fish of similar shape. For that reason it is usually kept one to a tank.

Good to know

Ctenochaetus strigosus is a bristletooth surgeonfish, named for the many fine, flexible teeth in its mouth. Zebrasoma tangs bite off tough macroalgae, but this fish sweeps up film instead. Like all surgeonfish, it has a folding scalpel spine at the base of the tail. Juveniles are yellow, and adults darken to a dusky body with fine blue-gray striping and a gold eye ring.

In the wild

Kole tangs live on rocky reef flats and lagoon slopes in the central Pacific, most commonly around the Hawaiian Islands and Johnston Atoll. They usually live alone, working the rock and sand for the film they feed on. They are constantly on the move over hard surfaces during the day and shelter in the reef at night.

Common questions

Related species

• 

  Tomini tang

  Ctenochaetus tominiensis

  6.3 in (16 cm) · 70 gal (265 L)

  6.3 in (16 cm)70 gal (265 L)75–81°F (24–27°C)

• 

  Chevron tang

  Ctenochaetus hawaiiensis

  11 in (28 cm) · 180 gal (680 L)

  11 in (28 cm)180 gal (680 L)75–81°F (24–27°C)

• 

  Scopas tang

  Zebrasoma scopas

  7.9 in (20 cm) · 90 gal (340 L)

  7.9 in (20 cm)90 gal (340 L)75–82°F (24–28°C)

• 

  Yellow tang

  Zebrasoma flavescens

  7.9 in (20 cm) · 100 gal (380 L)

  7.9 in (20 cm)100 gal (380 L)72–79°F (22–26°C)

• 

  Black tang

  Zebrasoma rostratum

  8.3 in (21 cm) · 119 gal (450 L)

  8.3 in (21 cm)119 gal (450 L)75–81°F (24–27°C)

• 

  Powder brown tang

  Acanthurus japonicus

  8.3 in (21 cm) · 129 gal (490 L)

  8.3 in (21 cm)129 gal (490 L)75–81°F (24–27°C)